[ He scowls, eyeing the sizzling meat as though it has personally offended him. ]
In my defence, the fool was always acting out. I may have forgotten much, but I still recall that night...
[ He presses his lips together and falls silent. For a little while, it seems as though he won't speak again. That night happened so very, very long ago for him and the memory has since become bittersweet in the face of all that has transpired since. ]
...Hythlodaeus had always made a game of teasing me and provoking me, ever since we were young. So of course, I never took him seriously, even after we matured and the provocations became more flirtatious in nature. I thought he was toying with me - he always acted the same towards his other friends after all. Especially towards Azem. By the stars, I genuinely believed they and Hythlodaeus preferred one another and that my own love was not reciprocated.
But then one night, he had drunk a little too much wine and I was walking him home. In his usual fashion, he made a salacious joke about inviting me inside. As he tried to step back, however, his heel caught upon something and I naturally moved forward to catch him - resulting in our faces being less than an ilm apart.
He tried to dismiss his words as a jest. But I-- I had had enough of his japes by then. I asked him, "Was everything you said up until now a joke?" He tried to deny it, said that he hadn't wanted to make me uncomfortable. And then I... I kissed him.
[ Hades is very pointedly staring at the table as he recounts this story and the tips of his ears have gone red. ]
That shy fool had been trying to woo me for decades! Yet I didn't notice.
no subject
In my defence, the fool was always acting out. I may have forgotten much, but I still recall that night...
[ He presses his lips together and falls silent. For a little while, it seems as though he won't speak again. That night happened so very, very long ago for him and the memory has since become bittersweet in the face of all that has transpired since. ]
...Hythlodaeus had always made a game of teasing me and provoking me, ever since we were young. So of course, I never took him seriously, even after we matured and the provocations became more flirtatious in nature. I thought he was toying with me - he always acted the same towards his other friends after all. Especially towards Azem. By the stars, I genuinely believed they and Hythlodaeus preferred one another and that my own love was not reciprocated.
But then one night, he had drunk a little too much wine and I was walking him home. In his usual fashion, he made a salacious joke about inviting me inside. As he tried to step back, however, his heel caught upon something and I naturally moved forward to catch him - resulting in our faces being less than an ilm apart.
He tried to dismiss his words as a jest. But I-- I had had enough of his japes by then. I asked him, "Was everything you said up until now a joke?" He tried to deny it, said that he hadn't wanted to make me uncomfortable. And then I... I kissed him.
[ Hades is very pointedly staring at the table as he recounts this story and the tips of his ears have gone red. ]
That shy fool had been trying to woo me for decades! Yet I didn't notice.